Airforce
by feeling-o'-stupidity
Summary: Of course Isabella didn't want Phineas to go. People die in the military. But she knew she couldn't stop him. Four years is a long time to wait. Especially when the person might not come back. Oneshot. Follows Isabellas POV


Isabella wasn't happy with Phineas's decision. Not at all really. But she wasn't mad at him for it, more saddened. Phineas had joined the military last week. Air-force. He had always loved flying. He had finished his boot camp and was being stationed _somewhere_ overseas. Classified of course. Phineas had always been a great engineer and they needed his skill and quick thinking right on the front lines of any war effort they had. Isabella had tried to tell him it was dangerous but he knew that. He felt obligated to do it, and while most would at least want a scholarship of some sort upon returning Phineas already had a full ride to any college in the country so he was doing this all because he thought it was right. One of the traits Isabella loved most about Phineas was driving her insane. He had told her not to wait up for him but they both knew that she would. She had waited years for him and she would wait years more if she had too. They hadn't let Isabella walk Phineas all the way to his plane but she was able to see it from the parking lot taking off.

Isabella was watching the news writing a letter to Phineas a couple of months later. She sent one a week but she generally got his in bundles, a little less than once a month. It was annoying to say the least but she knew it wasn't his fault, or anybody's really. As she watched the news she heard more about rebels or something. Two Air-force planes had been shot down and over 15 people were hurt or dead. In other news Ben and Jerry's was dropping one of its popular flavors. She wasn't sure if the news didn't have much information or if they cut out names to fit in the ice cream story. She knew the chances of him being one of the 15 were low but she was never given much to go on on what he was doing. Isabella made sure to include in her letter that she still wanted Phineas back.

It had been over a year now and Isabella finally found out he hadn't been one of the 15 (since then there had been many other things she was worried about) but that most of his troop had been. He had been left behind with a different division to fix the guidance system on a plane that had randomly gone off. Neither Phineas or Isabella had been particularly religious but they both prayed god was really looking out for him. Phineas also mentioned he had signed up for four years and was determined to fulfill his service.

Shortly after the 2 year mark Isabella found herself extremely depressed. Today was the day her and Phineas had started dating 5 years ago and it was already the second anniversary he'd missed. Not that he didn't get her anything he had sent out a beautiful gold necklace for their fourth anniversary and got her matching earrings for this one. She sent him a letter thanking him for the gifts and reiterating how much she missed him. They had come about a week late each time but he had sent them rather early in hopes of timing the mail correctly. Isabella knew she was halfway there.

6 months later Isabella was finally able to hear Phineas's voice. Somehow they had got him a satellite phone. They talked for about a minute about the war and how they were but they spent the next four telling jokes and talking nonsense. It was so good to hear each other they refused for there to be an awkward silence. 5 minutes in Phineas got called away to fix something that had been blown.. broken. Phineas wasn't subtle but he knew Isabella didn't want to hear about something exploding anywhere near him. Isabella ignored her worry. It was amazing to talk to him and great to know he was okay. She had worried being there might ruin his optimism or happiness but she could tell from his voice it didn't. He did sound even more sure of himself now with everything he said, even the last thing before hanging up _I Love You_

3 years and 10 months after he had left. They managed to get him home early and he would be landing in 2 weeks. They felt he could best serve his country back home making one girl they had all heard about happy.

Isabella got ready to leave for the airport. She couldn't wait. She got her gold necklace and earrings on and was heading to the door when she saw a black sedan drive up. She could almost tell the guy that got out was at the very least ex-military. She ran to the door. She couldn't believe Phineas was back already.

"Ms Garcia-Shapiro?" He asked his voice flat

"Yes!" Isabella answered practically jumping to see Phineas get out of the car but she stopped when she caught the man's blank expression. He took a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket

"We regret to inform you..."

Isabella took a step back and slammed the door sliding down it onto the floor. The man didn't knock but she knew he was waiting. She planned on keeping him waiting. She cried for a good half hour before stepping back out onto the porch to find the man sitting perfectly upright on a bench. He stood up as though at attention the second he saw her

"Continue.." Isabella said softly. The man put the paper away. He had read the flat words over a couple dozen times while waiting and he had done this enough to know that people deserved more

"I personally regret to inform you, your fiance's plane was shot down yesterday shortly after taking off at around 1pm. He served under me for his first year and he was not only a great soldier but a great person. I am truly sorry for your loss." Isabella looked at him questioningly, but still crying nonetheless

"Did you say fiance?" The man nodded. Phineas had never asked Isabella to marry him. Not when she wasn't dreaming anyway. She realized he must have told them he had and that she had said yes. Which she would have. Not that she would get the chance to now. The man saw her face thinking and interrupted her.

"Did you know had he not told us that you were his fiance that you would be at the airport right now waiting for him, if they sent someone to all the girlfriends we would have anyone left to fight. But from what he said you were always more than just a girlfriend. He truly did care for you." he handed Isabella the paper he had been reading earlier

_We regret to inform you your fiance was killed in a freak training accident._

Isabella looked from the paper to the man. The man nodded lightly and started walking back to his car. Phineas's plane had been coming from an undisclosed location and therefore all facts had been ignored. He had to tell at least this one person, if nobody else was ever to know. Isabella walked back into the house. Looking over the paper. After a couple hours of crying she heard the mail come and decided maybe the bills and junk mail would take her mind off Phineas. Nope.

Bill, bill, junk, junk,... Phineas? She looked at the letter. It was dated 2 weeks ago. She didn't know whether to open it or leave it the way it was. She felt it and realized it was thinker than just paper. She opened it up and read the note.

_Isabella as I told you in my last letter I will be back in just a couple more weeks. Then I can see your face, kiss your lips, and feel your heartbeat. But sadly all that must wait. This however cannot. Isabella, Will you marry me? (on the small chance you say yes put this on)_

Taped to the bottom of the letter was a golden ring that matched the golden necklace and golden earrings Isabella was already wearing. She broke down crying again. She finally put the ring on and continued crying. Phineas sure knew how to time the mail didn't he.

The funeral passed like any other military funeral. Two flags were folded. One for Phineas's parents and one for his next of kin. Linda and Lawrence accepted theirs crying but mostly composed. The second flag was folded and to Isabella's surprise the man carrying it passed Candace and Ferb and walked up to her. She looked at him shocked and then at Ferb and Candace who still had tears in their eyes but small smiles on their faces. Isabella silently accepted the flag, ring on her finger.

The conflicts finally ended a month and a half later. Isabella wasn't watching the news. She followed her usual schedule of college and work. Isabella was now only just passing her classes. She had begun to not care about everything. Her everything was dead. One day she was finally watching the news when she heard, well the news.

_Several air force personnel members are being released from their positions as prisoners of war. It is unknown when they were captured but it is believed they were taken from one of the many cargo planes that has been shot down._

Isabella really wanted to try and ignore the broadcast but she went and looked at the flag she had gotten at Phineas's funeral. He couldn't be alive, could he? Everyone else in the family probably didn't give much thought to the news other than it was amazing that people had survived any of the crashes. But everyone else in the family was told 'training accident'. Everyone knew it was total B.S. but they weren't going to argue the official record. Isabella sat wondering what would happen if Phineas was alive. She didn't want to but her mind was on absolutely nothing else at that moment. She went online. Nobody seemed to know who had survived or when they were taken prisoner. Basically it was just a technicality of the fighting ending. Isabella hoped one of the people was Phineas.

Isabella watched the news daily. The people had to first go to a hospital where most were kept for a couple of weeks. Then they had to be flown from country to country to make the trip back to the U.S. A majority of them were to be debriefed and then allowed to go to their families. Names were never mentioned. Isabella assumed if Phineas had been alive somebody would have told her or somebody else at least. They had to know who was who by now. The least they would have done was say that he was alive if he was alive. Isabella kept watching the news until they said all but 1 had been returned to the U.S. The one was apparently in terrible shape and wasn't given permission to leave the hospital yet. Isabella stopped watching the news. One less thing to get her hopes up with.

Isabella started throwing herself into college to take her mind of her fiance. She was talking with some of her classmates about their history assignment when someone brought up the situation with the people who were stuck overseas in the hospital while the government did a crap job of fixing things. They had heard some of the families just woke up one day to find their dead relatives at their front door. Then they brought up the one who had still been stuck there when the news stopped reporting. If the past was any indication he had probably died so the media stopped getting information. Isabella went home feeling a little better. It was nice to not worry about Phineas's well being. At least she didn't have to wonder if he was alive anymore. She got home and discovered someone had broken in.

"Of all the things that could go wrong today." She pulled out a taser her mom had gotten her when Phineas left and she was living by herself. Isabella walked through the house. She looked in her bedroom and saw all of Phineas's clothes were thrown everywhere. "How dare they" Isabella was feeling pretty pissed off now. She walked into the kitchen. It was exactly as it was when she left but there was one thing different. The triangularly folded flag in the garbage pail. Isabella was about to yell out when she heard the sink in the bathroom. _This bastard isn't going anywhere_. She stood next to the door when it opened. She saw a rather paled arm reach out and she immediately pushed the taser into it and pushed the button. The person fell backwards into the bathroom.. Isabella slid down the wall with her heart pounding. She couldn't believe she did it. She took out her cell phone to call the police when she decided to see who she had just tased (and lock him in the bathroom in case he woke up).

Naturally Isabella nearly fainted when she saw a signature triangular head lying on her bathroom floor. What else was she supposed to do? She used to nearly faint when he held her hand. Several hours later she awoke on her bed. What a weird dream. She sat up and noticed the lump on the back of her head. It wasn't a dream. She looked on her dresser and saw the lack of a flag. But if those had actually happened then that meant.

"Oh good your up I was beginning to get worried you hit your head on the way down." Isabella looked at him with disbelief. "No you didn't hit your head that hard. But I might have. That's a good taser and I would know." Isabella kept looking at him. He looked like he hadn't seen sunlight in months, which she figured he hadn't. He also had a small burn on his right wrist

"Sorry about your arm." Isabella said still taking in all that had happened in the last, she looked at the clock wow hour and a half.

"Well in retrospect I probably shouldn't have let myself in, trashed your room, and threw out your flag." Isabella smiled she went to jump off the bed and hug him but her head injury caused her to just stumble through her blanket and fall off the bed and fall off the end at Phineas's feet.

"Well I say that gets an 'A' for effort" Phineas said lifting Isabella to her feet then sitting her down on the edge of the bed. Isabella dragged him down to her lips once she had her composure. Phineas immediately started kissing her back. It had been almost 4 and a half years since he had seen her last. And yet her she was exactly as he had left her, except with an extra bump on the back of her head

"I thought I told you not to wait up?" Phineas joked sitting perfectly upright next to Isabella

"And miss out on the chance to marry my fiance?" Phineas only now noticed she was wearing the ring he had gotten her. They shared another kiss. This one they enjoyed more because they weren't afraid they were going to wake up anymore.

"We should probably tell everyone I'm not dead huh?"

"You didn't yet?"

"I woke up 5 minutes before you did actually. Just enough time to ensure you didn't wake up in the hallway." They got up and decided now was as good a time as any to go see the Flynn-Fletchers. They didn't know exactly how to tell them so they decided it would best be a surprise. Maybe Isabella wouldn't be the only one to faint out of shock. Isabella called Phineas's mom to say she was coming over and that she had a surprise. Linda was extremely happy to hear from Isabella. Ferb, Candace, Aunt Tiana, Uncle Bob, and the grandparents were all coming over for dinner also so it would be just like old times. More than anyone but Isabella and Phineas knew.

Isabella was greeted by hugs when she entered. Everybody told her she looked great but that was probably because she hadn't looked happy in, literally, years. When Candace hugged her she noticed something she had seen at the funeral, the last time she had seen Isabella. Isabella had a ring on her finger. She didn't ask Isabella about it at the funeral but she felt she had to now if she got the chance. Isabella hadn't already moved on by Phineas's funeral had she? Isabella called someone and had a really quick conversation. Candace was about to go talk to her when Isabella stood up to speak.

"Everybody I have a bit of a surprise I brought with me." Everyone looked at her. Now a majority of the women noticed Isabella's ring as the light hit it. Isabella wouldn't go to her dead boyfriend's family's house to announce she was getting married. "Hey handsome get in here will you."

"Can do." Everyone's heads shot to the door at the sound of the voice. That was impossible. "Hey guys. What did I miss?" Mrs Flynn-Fletcher passed out and Candace had to catch her. Everyone who was left standing attacked Phineas with a group hug. They didn't know how but here he was.

After saying their hellos to Phineas everyone started to wake up Linda. Ferb finally threw some water on her face. She looked up and saw her two sons and her daughter standing over her. She dragged all three down in a hug, she then saw Isabella and pulled her in too, catching her off-guard. After a couple of minutes Linda looked at the clock.

"Oh dear it would appear dinner is being overcooked." They all laughed and went to eat dinner and listened to Phineas as he first explained the plane crashing and being a prisoner of war and then him summing up the last 4 years of his life. Then he listened as they did the same.

All and all it was one of the best dinners they had ever had together, despite the chicken being a little dry. Desert was only ice cream because they hadn't been planning for everyone to stay as long as they did, but nobody was going to leave Phineas alone, at least not for awhile. Somewhere during Candace remembered something she had wanted to ask Isabella when she arrived. Before it was going to be an accusation now she was just pointing out something they hadn't explained yet.

"So Isabella when you first got here I was going to ask you about that ring. You had it on at the funeral and _I_ had actually thought you had already moved on by then. I guess its pretty obvious I was mistaken though." Isabella and Phineas turned bright red. Everyone looked at her hand to see the ring. There was a quick silence followed by a roar of questions. "Everybody quiet down" Everyone looked at Candace who was laughing "Save your questions for tomorrow. I think these two could use some time to catch up. They missed 4 years so they have to make up for lost time." Candace turned to Phineas and Isabella, still bright red "Make _**up**_ for lost time. Not make _**out**_."

"Candace!" Phineas shouted at his sister redder than he was before

"I'm sorry," Candace said laughing, "4 years of not trying to bug you I had to get that out of my system." Everybody was laughing. All the extended family excused themselves shortly after followed by Candace. Ferb gave his brother a strong hug before he left

"Good to have you back, bro."

"Good to be back." After that Phineas and Isabella excused themselves. They were driving home when Isabella said

"Can you believe its been four years and everything seems exactly the same."

"Well not exactly the same." Phineas said motioning towards Isabella's ring. Phineas had his life life back, and she had agreed to marry him. Isabella had her life back, and she planned on marrying him. And they both had long full lives to live, together.


End file.
